Page 333 - Chinese Art, Vol II By Stephen W. Bushell

—

TEXTILES, WOVEN SILKS, ETC. 95
use of the sun, moon, and stars those of the next two degrees
;
were further restricted from mountains and dragons : and by a
continually decreasing restriction five sets of official robes were
made to indicate the rank of the wearers. The twelve ancient
figures, illustrated by the commentators of the Sung dynasty,
comprise :

1. Jih, the"Sun,"the solar disc supported upon a bank of clouds, with its
three-legged bird inside.
2. Ytieh, the "Moon," the lunar disc containing a hare, with pestle and
mortar pounding the elixir vitae.
3. Hsing, Chen, the "Stars," represented by a constellation of three stars
connected by straight lines.
4. Shan, "Mountains," worshipped in China from prehistoric times.
5. Lung, "Dragons," a pair of the fabulous scaly monsters, five-ciawed.
6. Hua Chung, the "Flowery Fowls," a pair of variegated pheasants.
7. Tsung Yi, the "Temple Vessels" of ancestral worship, a pair figxired
with a tiger and a monkey.
8. Ts'ao, ''Aquatic Grass," in sprays.
9. Huo, "Fire," in flaming scrolls.
10. Fen Mi, "Grains of Millet," grouped in a medalhon.
11. Fu, an "Axe," the weapon of the warrior.
12. Fu, a peculiar "Symbol" of distinction, of ornamental origin, used in
the sense of "embroidered" in modern phraseology. {See p. 56).

The Po wu yao Ian, a " General Survey of Art Objects," written
by Ku Ying-t'ai in tlie reign of T'ien Ch'i (1621-27) of the Ming
dynasty, one of the best books on the subject, devotes its twelfth
book to ancient silks under the headings of chin, " brocades," and
"
hsiti, embroideries." Beginning with the former Han dynasty
it shows that many of the ornamental designs still used, such
as dragons and phoenixes, birds and flowers, peach-stones and
grapes, were already woven in silk at this early period. The
Chinese emperors gave gifts of rolls of figured silks as in the
present day, which is proved by the citation of a notice of the
presentation of five rolls of brocade with dragons woven upon a
crimson ground by the emperor Ming Ti of the Wei dynasty, in
the year a.d. 238, to the reigning empress of Japan, who sent
8941. 2 O